Claudius ptolemaeus, known as ptolemy, was a grecoroman citizen in alexandria, egypt, who lived between roughly 100 and 170 a. Tcp the annals of the world deduced from the origin of. The cosmography of ptolemy, latin translation by ja. Claudius ptolema eus or ptolemy, who wrote various works on astronomy and astrology, composed a geographical work geographike huphegesis, guide to geography in eight books during the middle of the second century c. Titus livius livy, the history of rome, book 1, chapter. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. The geography also known by its latin names as the geographia and the cosmographia, is a. He used a system of grid lines to plot the latitude and longitude of some 8,000 places on a map that. Mar 24, 2019 geography gained rapid popularity, and there were more than forty editions printed from the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries.
He lived in egypt under roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of ptolemais hermiou in the thebaid. Tcp the annals of the world deduced from the origin of time. For hundreds of years, unscrupulous cartographers of the middle ages printed a variety of atlases with the name ptolemy on them, to provide credentials for their books. Each place is located with latitude and longitude aiming at enabling a reconstruction of the complete map of the world he was living in, but it is believed that he probably never. Alexandria was built by the ancient greeks, but later conquered by the romans. No signs are necessary for b, since no b is west of the bi. There are three of his surviving works that have historical significance, the almagest the great treatise on mathematics, the tetrabiblos four books about philosophy and astronomy, and geographia, the work that concerns us here. Claudius ptolemy and geography introduction in ancient times there were many great ideas which began to shape the way man perceived his environment. The tribe was first noted in written sources when encountered by julius caesar. Most of these methods can be effective only insofar as ptolemy s geography is regarded as an example of what david woodward called equipollentcoordinate space. This amounts to a reduction of ptolemys longitudes by 28.
Ptolemys geography at lacuscurtius english translation, incomplete. Thomas codringtons roman roads in britain, long the standard authority in its field. The geography by ptolemy meet your next favorite book. English translation only, no greek, about 2000 pages of print. Ptolemy editor, helmut humbach editor, deutsches architekturmuseum editor 0. The geographia from lacus curtiusstraboloeb original. Dover publications, new york 1991, but originally new york library, 1932. Written in the second century ad, for more than fifteen centuries it was the most detailed topography of europe and asia available and the best reference on how to gather data and draw maps. Notitia, curiosum, and appendices and the ordo benedicti. Caesar depended on their shipbuilding skills for his fleet on the loire. Ptolemy geography was not rediscovered until the mid 1500s. Claudius ptolemy was a greek geographer and astronomer, who worked out a form of geocentric theory that lasted for 1400 years. I hope the end of your trip went as well as the rest of it seems to have gone.
Claudius ptolemy was born in about the year 100 ad, almost certainly in egypt. Claudius ptolemy biography history geography and astronomy. Introduction ptolemy s geography is a treatise on cartography, the only book on that subject to have survived from classical antiquity. Claudius ptolemaeus circa 100circa 170, known as ptolemy, was an astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of greek descent who lived and worked in the egyptian city of alexandria. At times, they apparently moved to the danube frontier with rome. His previous books include episodes in the mathematics of medieval islam, and pi. Introduction ptolemys geography is a treatise on cartography, the only book on that subject to have survived from classical antiquity. Each red arrow on my map is an average over a five by five degree area.
Usually, maps comparing ptolemys map and a modern world map are drawn without reduction of the ptolemaic coordinates, see e. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the greek anthology. Mar 01, 2011 geography of claudius ptolemy, originally titled geographia and written in the second century, is a depiction of the geography of the roman empire at the time. Maps based on this translation followed independently within less than twenty years. A growing section on roman britain now includes four books. This is also an excellent site for studying historical geography. The hermunduri, hermanduri, hermunduli, hermonduri, or hermonduli were an ancient germanic tribe, who occupied an area near the elbe river, around what is now thuringia, bohemia, saxony in east germany, and franconia in northern bavaria, from the first to the third century. Ptolemy ii christopher bennetts annotated egyptian royal genealogy provides detailed references to. Claudius is a roman name and claudius ptolemy was a roman citizen. In his geography, ptolemy gathered all the geographic knowledge possessed by the grecoroman world. The maps in surviving manuscripts of ptolemys geography, however, only date from about 0, after the text was rediscovered by maximus planudes. The text of ptolemy s geography was translated into latin by 140609 by jacopo angeli da scarperia and dedicated successively to popes gregory xii and alexander v.
Though inaccurate due to ptolemy s varying methods of measurement and use of outdated data, geography of claudius ptolemy is nonetheless an excellent example of ancient geographical study and scientific method. The canal of drusus is mentioned by suetonius claudius, 1 and tacitus annals, ii. The annals of the world deduced from the origin of time, and continued to the beginning of the emperour vespasians reign, and the totall destruction and abolition of the temple and commonwealth of the jews. Most of the chapters from ptolemys geography are accompanied by maps 18 so far, bibliographic notes including references to the texts of pliny the elder and strabo, and links to the roman gazetteer and related websites. Though inaccurate due to ptolemy s varying methods of measurement and use of outdated data, geography of claudius ptolemy is nonetheless an excellent example of ancient geographical. In the second century bce, the author of the apocryphal book of jubilees spoke about a mountain named lubar in the land of ararat jubilees 5. Like ptolemy s writings on astronomy and optics, the geography is a highly original work, and it had a profound in. The geography consists of three sections, divided among 8 books. Obviously ptolemy s rhine is far from accurate and thus it is perhaps not that helpful. He lived in the metropolis of alexandria on egypts mediterranean coast. Claudius ptolemaeus ptolemy flourished 146circa 170 c. Ptolemy was a geographer, mathematician, astronomer and poet, whose works resonated for many centuries. As it is known, the importance of ptolemys geographia had declined for almost 10 centuries coming back in th c.
The pictones minted coins from the end of the 2nd century bc. Geography ptolemy project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Ptolemy ii page from bearers of meaning ottilia buergers collection of ancient coins at lawrence u. Ptolemys geography at lacuscurtius english translation. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. As it happens, we know the summit that the ancients identified as the place where the ark rested. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
A polymath of enormous repute with influences across the sciences, ptolemy is identified varyingly as an astronomer, a mathematician, a geographer and cartographer. One of these minds belonged to claudius ptolemy, or just ptolemy as he is commonly referred to. Most of the chapters from ptolemy s geography are accompanied by maps 18 so far, bibliographic notes including references to the texts of pliny the elder and strabo, and links to the roman gazetteer and related websites. Vignette titlepage, reproducing 27 maps of the codex ebnerianus, a manuscript of ptolemy s geography at the new york public library, prepared by donnus nicolaus germanus, the ruysch map of the world from the 1508 printed edition, and laurent fries new world map from 1522, other illustrations. Najran, is a city in southwestern saudi arabia near the border with yemen. It is an extremely difficult text, which still defies proper understanding, but seems to be part of an astronomical diary of about the s bc nevertheless, it is reasonably clear that the text deals with the brother of the parthian king. I ran a first proofreading pass immediately after entering each book, and later got sustained help from four other readers, so that the text of all the books is quite good already. Bevans 1927 classic the house of ptolemy on bill thayers lacus curtius. Texts and where to find them university of birmingham. Nonjonas out there should know that he did a fair chunk of the work himself. The geography at lacus curtius kansas other aesop d. There have been several theories about its location, one of them being that it is identical to the river vecht, another stressing that both suetonius and tacitus use a plural, and. Like ptolemys writings on astronomy and optics, the geography is a highly original work, and it had a profound in.
After two introductory books, numbers 3 and 4 deal with spain and gaul, 5 and 6 with italy and sicily, 7 with north and east europe, 810 with greek lands, 1114 with the main regions of asia and with asia minor, 15 with india and iran, 16. Obviously ptolemys rhine is far from accurate and thus it is perhaps not that helpful. Ptolemy s geography is the only book on cartography to have survived from the classical period and one of the most influential scientific works of all time. He used a system of grid lines to plot the latitude and longitude of some. Geography of claudius ptolemy, originally titled geographia and written in the second century, is a depiction of the geography of the roman empire at the time. Designated a new town, najran is one of the fastestgrowing cities in the kingdom. However, there were few minds who were able to put all of these ideas together. Bevans house of ptolemy i like to think that there are 114 books on my site 62 primary ancient sources or authors, 29 modern works on the old world, 23 works on american history yes, a large american history site too. In berggren and jones ptolemy has, at long last, found his ideal exponents. The rest of book vii provides details on three projections. See table of contents for some information about how this translation has been produced, and key to translations for an explanation of the format. Book i is a treatise on cartography, describing the methods used to assemble and arrange ptolemy s data. Strabo, the greatest predecessor of ptolemys geography, did not know.
Alexander jones is professor of classics and of the history. The rediscovery of this great work came at a fortunate time because the recent development of a printing industry capable of handling map reproduction made possible its circulation far beyond the few scholars who otherwise would have enjoyed access. Vignette titlepage, reproducing 27 maps of the codex ebnerianus, a manuscript of ptolemy s geography at the new york public library, prepared by donnus nicolaus germanus, the ruysch map of the world from the 1508 printed edition, and laurent fries new world map from 1522. Nova online secrets of lost empires roman bath resources. Ptolemy shows magna germania at the vistula river vistula being the gothic name and verifies the recorded history of tacitus who in 98 ad recorded the britons and the germanic people in the agricola and the germania. Location of lusitania hispania second map of europe. Their chief town lemonum, the celtic name of modernday poitiers poitou, is located on the south bank of the liger. Narbo is spoken of as the navalstation of these people alone, though it would be fairer to add and of the rest of celtica, so greatly has it surpassed the others in the number of people. Strabos historical work is lost, but his most important geography in seventeen books has survived. The geography acus curtius chicago the entire text, with maps, is being put up on the web. The population mostly originates from the ancient tribes of yam. Mauritania, numidia, cyrenaica, libya, egypt, aethiopia. Claudius ptolemys geography ptolemys work consists of a list of 6345 place names in the roman empire of the 2 nd c.
123 59 460 941 1630 654 616 10 881 88 1105 1034 1520 452 321 941 1539 886 400 1543 1228 111 1312 1516 792 718 1286 1226 1039 432 1541 484 1531 744 1014 806 1337 1230 637 1283 155 603 773 995